2011 Thailand King's Cup Recap by Rick Sherker

What an experience! This was the most logistically challenging event I've ever attended. Thankfully being part of Team USA - Jettribe has its perks! With their help and experience everything had a way of working out. The opportunity for Team USA to attend this prestigious event was made possible by Jettribe, Motor Field, Hot products, Blowsion, and TiAL Sport. Once the team arrived in Thailand, we were taken care of by Jettribe's local connections, Sam and his family of Motor Field, and good friend Eddie. These guys bent over backwards to help us all out -
THANK YOU! In addition, I also would like to thank Riva, Fly, Boyesen, Full Spectrum, and Hydro-Turf for their continued support.

The entire team met up in Bangkok and then made the trip down to Pattaya in a parade of vans. When we arrived we found our skis already unloaded from the container along the side of the
Furama, the host hotel. It was a big relief to find everything in the same condition it left Lake Havasu City, AZ before traveling half way around the world. Thursday evening the night before racing began, the opening ceremonies took place. This was a formal event that set the tone and showed the importance of this event. As part of the ceremony Jettribe introduced its 2012 lineup in a fashion show.

For me, Pro Ski ran Moto 1 & 2 on Saturday and Moto 3 & 4 on Sunday. I spent Thursday and Friday struggling to fix a problem I was having with my ski leaving the line on practice starts.
Unfortunately I was not able to get it figured out before the races on Saturday... My starts reflected it. Moto 1 I came out 7th and and was unable to work my way up. Moto two, I struggled off the line again, coming out 5th on the start, but was able to make a couple of passes in the splits and worked up to a third place finish, moving me up to fifth place in the points going into
Sunday. The rest of Saturday I spent trying to figure out the issue, finally finding one small issue that didn't give me much hope that the problem was solved. However Sunday morning I was in the water first thing, where I was releaved that it was fixed but a little frustrated also that I had not been able to get it fixed sooner. However it was nice to find it there and not after getting home. The boat was running perfect again. Moto 3 I got a great holeshot and was able to pull a comfortable lead the first couple of laps and was able to maintain it to the end. Going into moto 4, I moved up to second in the points. I again grabbed the holeshot on the outside lane, only this time coming out even with Steven Dualiach from the inside lane. It was a drag race down the front straight and side by Side going into next turn. Dualiach dropped back to fifth after going down briefly and I came out with the lead. For a short moment I had the opportunity to get the cup, but Dualiach quickly got back up to third, then around his teammate Omar Al-Rashid, into second. I was able to hold of Dulliachs charge and earn my second moto win, leaving me with a 7-3-1-1 finish in the four respective motos, just 6 points behind the winner, Dualiach who was more consistant with a 3-2-2-2 finish.

In the end, the entire trip was a great experience! From the trip itself, to the culture, to the people I met, and of course the race itself. It was also good to get a chance to hang out with my
fellow Team USA members and the Jettribe gang, getting to know them better. I hope to return for the 2012 World Cup and bring the King's Cup back to the United States next year.